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Monday, 28 January 2019

So I fell down the rabbit hole went back to work - loved it but as expected there was no time for sewing. TG for a long weekend, Northland (and Auckland and Bay of Plenty) Anniversary weekend, and I got both some piecing and some quilting done:

Week 12

Week 13

Bonus Block 3: Crosswalk, Waterfront and balcony

I meant to do this in peach, but accidentally started in the next purples on the pile - duh! I'll have to check carefully what blocks are included in week 14, I try to avoid putting same blocks next to each other...

Weeks 1-13 plus the three bonus blocks - I can see a few more yellow, pink and red blocks are in order

Friday, 18 January 2019

Of course (...) I ended up with plenty of aqua and green leftovers... I didn't want to go backing-shopping, and I had some nice white cotton sheets of the right size for backing. But even little 9 year old girls will get white things grubby, so with the help of mum I dyed the sheet (and my hands) aqua!

Take some aqua procion dye, a large microwave and a large plastic container as well as some Soda Ash (I used the instructions from LuAnn Kessi which I had blogged about here) and your white sheet becomes an aqua backing:

I put an IG filter on to get the pic closer to the true colour

- oh yes, you can get blue hands, too, if you're not diligent about wearing gloves lol

Since we put a big fluffy mat in the lounge, I unsuccessfully tried table basting before I made enough space on the floor by the breakfast island

I had asked on IG if people thought I needed to add leaves to the aqua lines in the wide white border, there were mixed responses, but to be honest I couldn't really get myself motivated, so instead I quilted giant bamboo stalks:

I found no easy way to photograph this...

... visible a little better from the back

There are still a few more projects from 2018 I want to blog about, but as I'm going back to work next week, we'll just have to see how that works out. Until then I will just enjoy the beautiful summer in the Far North of New Zealand!

Last year I jumped on the #berninazenchicqal to make a cover for DH's new-to-him armchair - I openly call it the ugly chair as I neither like style nor material nor colour. the quilt had been pieced, sandwiched and quilted for the last 6 months, waiting patiently (what else can a quilt do really?) on the 'to be finished' pile next to the sofa - which is by the way also a great cat bed as well as a fabulous attractor of dust bunnies and various other dirt that accumulates in the lounge. This morning I finally managed to get it DONE!

An older accumulation of various black, white, red and greys; the kitty fabric ended up becoming my feature fabric

Monday, 7 January 2019

I have seen various Quilt Planners around the Internet, and while I liked the version from Canoe Ridge Creations, it didn't quite meet my needs. I used hers as the inspiration and made my own one. Rather than making resolutions, which actually worked amazingly well for me in 2018 (despite a lack of blogging), this year I want to make a list of what WIPs I have on the go. I know that I need a variety of projects to keep me interested, some quick-fix instant gratification type stuff, some ongoing projects, some quilting, some piecing etc. So here we go for 2019:

If you find this useful, feel free to download my template here; you are welcome to use and to remix for non-commercial activities.

Some of the other quilting related plans for 2019 include learning how to use the rulers for my Sweet Sixteen better, and getting back into fabric painting/dying - maybe these can score me some new cushion covers for the couch?

Really only these projects on the list yet??? I better go and double-check in my sewing room - don't wait for me, I might get lost there...

Those batiks must obviously have been calling my name for a while now (and it's not stopping yet lol)... Should I mention that I just yesterday made an order almost entirely of batiks from Pink Castle Fabrics? Well, somehow that #patchworkcity2018 top will need to be completed lol and now that I have made the order I feel more confident to cut up my remnants of Me & Yous in black and white because I know there are more (and similar ones) to come. But back to my first finish for 2019:

Pohutukawa - Kiwi Christmas (Whakapapa #2)

It actually look way less distorted in real life, but the sun is burning down on the deck and a light hot breeze is blowing, so until I get it put up inside the house, this photograph will do fine :)

It started all back in early 2017. The Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild had made this quilt Riverfire before I left Australia:

I had dabbled with crazy patchwork 'back in the day' (you can find a few of those under the label Small Projects), and I wanted to try my hand at modern improv. New Zealand summers are well known for the red flowers of the Pohutukawa tree, New Zealand's 'Christmas tree', and to follow on from Whakapapa #1 (which was all about the small town where I grew up in Germany), so this is now Whakapapa #2, in reference to our life in New Zealand.

Copyright free images from Google Images provided the inspiration...

...my plan - 1" grid on paper for 4" blocks

I decided to pull out all my batik scraps for this projects and sorted them into the corresponding colours - using batiks as I felt even small 'crumbs' would be usable and not unravel (is that the word???)

Soon I had to start cutting into my batik FQs and yardage as I didn't have enough scraps - and with that I created more scraps (sigh)

I was ready to give up at the top completed line, but thanks to my IG buddies I persevered with a final row

FMQ and threadpainting

Not the best colours, but this is the quilted top.

Some close-ups of the quilting:

As per my usual method, I pulled up the bottom thread at the beginning of the quilting and kept long ends at the end, again pulling up the bottom thread (when I remembered). As usual that left me with a gazillion threads to bury, but I finally finished this today - phew!

Instead of binding I opted for a skinny facing with triangles in the corners for hanging:

While I found the right piece of wood for the top in DH's stash, we'll need to buy some more for the bottom; with the tight quilting I feel there needs to be a bit of weight at the bottom to make sure this piece hangs just right.